At First Sight (4 page)

              Dean furrowed his brows. “You think I just made everything up?”

              “No!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “I just think I’m dreaming. I just… I don’t know.”

              Dean slowly walked towards her, holding out his hands. “I can assure you that you aren’t dreaming. It’s not really common for humans to become like us. We haven’t had the gift in so long and for a human to bring it back? Well, it’s shocking. It’s going to shake things up.”

              “What do you mean?”

              “Once people find out and see you face to face, they are going to want everyone to see you and ask you questions,” he explained.

              “Everyone?”

              “Everybody in our family, everybody across the globe, will want to meet you.”

              Lola shook her head.
“What is this kid on? Why can’t I wake up?”

              “I don’t want this, Dean. Don’t come near me, okay? I’m going to wake up soon and we’ll have never met. None of this is real.” She started backing up and away from him.

              Dean shook his head frantically. This couldn’t be happening. “Lola, wait.”

              “Just stay away from me!”

              He stood helpless as he watched her run away and out his sight.

4

              Lola slammed the door behind her once she got home and threw her things to the ground, sighing heavily as she ran her hands aggravatingly through her hair. She wasn’t angry, though. She was feeling sad and she was aching all over. It reminded her of when she got the flu right before junior year. It was the worst case she had ever experienced in her life. She was stuck in bed for an entire week.

              But, she didn’t feel sick. Her body just ached, like it craved for something.

              She collapsed on the couch and groaned, covering her face with her hands. It was obvious she wasn’t asleep. She had pinched herself multiple times while driving home until it had hurt so much that she squealed. So, what was this new pain? Why did she hurt so much?

              What if Dean was right about everything? Could this pain be from her rejection? She rejected the gift that had occurred between them and now she was being punished for it.

              “That’s completely unfair,” she murmured to herself.

              She slowly got up, wincing at the ache. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottled water from the fridge. Even lifting the bottle to her lips was painful.

              She shouldn’t be punished for making her own choices. Who would want to be like that anyway? Who would want to have freakish powers and a soul mate before you even graduate high school? It wasn’t natural. She was supposed to leave Los Angeles as soon as she graduated and start a new life away from her past. She wasn’t meant to be stuck with some guy she barely even knew.

              She wanted love, but not like this. She wanted to meet somebody and slowly get to know them over the course of two or three months while going on simple dates. Then, after a year, she would fall in love and decide she wants to spend the rest of her life with this person.

              Meeting somebody because of some odd gift?

              That wasn’t how she wanted her life to play out.

              She dragged her body into the bedroom and slowly snuggled herself under the covers, trying her hardest to ignore the pain shooting through her at lightning speed. She wasn’t going to give into this pain. She wouldn’t allow herself to sink that low.

              After all, she didn’t give in to her parents.

              Dean walked into the kitchen that evening to find his parents talking over a cup of tea. The walk back home was a complete struggle. Lola had rejected him and, because of that, he was in complete pain. His body ached all over and he could definitely feel what Lola was feeling at her home. He wished he could be there to stop it, but it would only stop if she accepted what was meant to be.

              Katherine looked up first, sensing there was something wrong with her son. “Dean, what happened?”

              “I met her,” he murmured, sitting down and wincing as his bottom met the hard seat.

              She gasped as her husband, Frankie, stood up in surprise. “Oh my gosh!”

              Frankie grinned, but then let it fall when he saw his son’s distress. “What’s wrong? You should be happy.”

              “She rejected me.”

              They both gasped softly, knowing exactly what it meant when the gift was rejected. They had seen, sadly, too many people go through the rejection and they had always prayed that their sons wouldn’t go through it. It broke their hearts to see that their prayers had been ignored.

              Dean put his head in his hands and groaned, wishing he could be in some other universe where pain didn’t exist. “Dad, can’t you make this go away?”

              “I wish I could, but you know we can’t use our own powers to work against each other on contact,” he explained softly.

              He had to talk to her. He needed her to understand that this wasn’t something bad. It was a good thing that could hold a great impact on both of their lives. He didn’t have her number so he did the next best thing.

              “
Lola, please.”

             
It took a few moments, but he finally heard her. He could definitely hear the pain in her voice. “
Dean, I’m trying to sleep.”

              “I need you to understand, please. I know you are in pain.”

             
There was a pause. “
So?”

              “I don’t want you to be in pain. I’m in pain, too. I know what it feels like, but we shouldn’t have to feel like this. I need you to accept what we have between us.”

              “You can’t make me do anything, Dean. I won’t let you.”

             
The pain of her words only made his physical pain even worse. A tear slid down his cheek as his parents watched the anguish on his face. “
Please.”

              “Stay out of my mind.”

             
He didn’t hear anything else. It was like she had literally slammed the door in his face. He didn’t look at or say anything to his parents. He simply trudged upstairs and shut his door before crashing on his bed. He buried his face in his pillow and groaned out loud.

              He wanted to fix this so badly, but there was nothing more he could do except pray that Lola changed her mind.

              Everything felt slim to none at this point, though.

              “What’s your problem?”

              Dean groaned in annoyance. He didn’t have time for Freddie’s presence. “Go away.”

              “I overheard you guys downstairs. You met her?” He could hear the anger in his brother’s voice. “I can’t believe this.”

              “You can’t believe it? Well, I’m in pain. She rejected me so it’s obviously real,” explained Dean, turning on to his back and glaring at Freddie.

              Freddie glared back at his younger brother. “No, I can believe that it’s back. I just can’t believe that
you
had to be the one to bring it back. It’s bullshit.”

              “How? You know I can’t control any of it. Nobody can! So, why are you acting so pissy about it?” Dean reclined on his elbows.

              He pointed an angry finger at Dean. “You’re the favorite, Dean. Everybody in the entire
world
is counting on you because they know what you can do.”

              “What do you mean?” asked Dean, confused. He was just a Manifester in America. People around the world counted on him?

              Freddie shook his head and rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter anymore. You brought back the gift and now things are going to change when we go back to Paris. Big time.”

              Dean watched him walk away, replaying his words over and over in his mind. How was the entire world counting him? What did Freddie know that he didn’t?

              Right now, as his body convulsed in pain, he knew that he had more important things to worry about.

              What about Lola?

              “It’s back.”

              Matthew Baywood looked up from his paperwork that evening, the Eiffel Tower illuminating outside his office window. He had been busy all day trying to figure out the next meeting among other things that had been weighing on his mind.

              He stared at the man before him curiously. “What is?”

              The man’s look was emotionless. “The gift. She’s a human.”

              Matthew stood up slowly, a smile spreading on his face. “A
human
, you say? Who is the soul mate?”

              There was a pause before a small sneer spread on the man’s face. “Dean Baker.”

              Matthew’s smile dropped. “Dean?” A pause. “Oh my.”

              “You know what this means, right?” asked the man.

              He nodded, turning to look out the window. He stared as the light at the top of the tower flew across his face, continuing its circular motion across Paris.

              “Yes, brother. I do.”

5

Lola felt the same.

              She’d been at work for a whole two hours and she just felt the same as last night. Weak. She had a slight headache, her stomach hurt, her muscles ached, and she felt like she wanted to fall asleep against the candy counter. It was worse than having her period.

              She thought about Dean and knew he was going through the same thing. It didn’t bring her joy that he was hurting, but what was she supposed to do? She wasn’t the type of person to give into things like this. It wasn’t natural for people to have powers. Sure, Dean was handsome and he was sweet. Hell, he had rescued her from Dale’s gross body. But, that didn’t mean she should automatically be his.

             
“Excuse me? Can I get some service, please?” demanded a gruff voice.

              Lola looked up to see a man with a bushy beard covering half of his face, a ratty top hat, and a long coat covered with moth balls. She scrunched up her nose at the smell. “Yes. What can I get you?”

              The man had a slight sneer on his face. “Just get me a popcorn. No butter.”

              She quickly prepped his popcorn and accepted his payment on the counter. Just as she handed his popcorn to him, their skin made contact. His eyes went wide as the popcorn dropped from his hands and spilled on to the ground. She furrowed her brows as he suddenly grabbed her wrist, exposing her palm.

              “What are you doing!” she exclaimed, her heart starting to beat fast.

              “
Lola, what’s going on?”

             
She didn’t even register Dean’s thought. The man began to mumble something incoherent as he held on to her wrist, staring at her palm. It sounded like he was speaking Latin. Before she could even think about what he might be saying, she gasped in pain as a deep cut began to appear straight across her palm. It began to bleed profusely and, before she could grab napkins to clean up her hand, he beat her to the punch. Right after the napkin touched her skin, he ran off.